WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has added a fourth customer to its launch manifest for the still-in-development New Glenn rocket.

“We are honored to have SKY Perfect JSAT as a customer for an early New Glenn launch,” Bob Smith, Blue Origin’s chief executive, told SpaceNews. “They are the biggest commercial satellite operator in Asia and highly respected. The whole team at Blue thanks SKY Perfect JSAT for placing its trust in us to take them to orbit.”

The Jeff Bezos-owned company also announced March 12 that mu Space, a Thai startup, finalized its agreement for a geostationary telecom satellite launch, converting a previously announced memorandum of understanding into a binding contract.

“We are looking forward to taking mu Space’s satellite to [geostationary transfer orbit],” Smith said. “They are an innovative company who shares our vision of opening up space for all.”

Like Eutelsat’s contract, Sky Perfect JSAT’s contract doesn’t specify what satellite will launch on New Glenn.

Mu Space has yet to select a manufacturer for its satellite, but on March 12 announced a capacity contract on two SES satellites — SES-8 and the yet-to-launch SES-12 — to start providing satellite broadband services in Thailand.

With seven BE-4 engines on its first stage and one vacuum-optimized BE-4U for its second stage, New Glenn is being designed to carry up to 45 metric tons to LEO or 13 metric tons to GTO.

Blue Origin is designing the two-stage New Glenn to provide more lift capacity than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Arianespace’s Ariane 5, and International Launch Services’ Proton — the three rockets that orbit the majority of the world’s commercial telecom satellites. New Glenn will also have more lift capacity than Europe’s next generation Ariane 6, which debuts in 2020. Only the Falcon Heavy, United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 Heavy and China’s Long March 5 have larger GTO lift capacities.

Blue Origin is designing New Glenn to be reusable, building on the progress the company has made with the suborbital New Shepard launch vehicle.

Blue Origin is upgrading Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 to support New Glenn launches, not far from the Florida factory Blue Origin is opening to build the rockets. The company plans to land the vehicle’s first stage on a seafaring drone ship similar to what SpaceX uses to recover its Falcon 9 boosters.

SpaceX just successfully launched its fifth rocket of the year on Friday at 5:40 p.m. EST.

The Falcon 9 rocket launched out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at twice the speed of a speeding bullet. It was carrying a rhinoceros-size communications satellite called Thaicom 8 that weighs nearly 7,000 pounds.

Once up, the satellite, built by aerospace manufacturer Orbital ATK for Thailand's first satellite operator, Thaicom, will provide TV and internet services to Southeast Asia.

The satellite will run for 15 years, a long lifetime for a satellite. It'll stay powered using solar wings that extend out, each of which holds four panels.

As for the rocket that launched it? It'll fly again, said SpaceX staff during the launch.

SpaceX's track record for launches has been nearly flawless this year, with five successful launches and four successful landings — and retrievals! — of the first stage of the rockets. One of those successes took place on land in December, and two more happened in April and May at sea.

SpaceX once again managed to nail an extremely difficult landing with this rocket, making it:

The fourth successful retrieval of the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket

The third successful at-sea landing

The second successful landing after launching to the extremely high geostationary orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth's equator

During SpaceX's last launch, CEO Elon Musk admitted that he wasn't sure if they'd stick the landing, citing the extreme heat and velocity that the rocket faced upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

But it did. And although it was a hugely surprising success, the re-landed first stage suffered "maximum damage," meaning that it's not going back to space again anytime soon. Instead, SpaceX plans to use that rocket for ground tests.

Perfecting the landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets brings SpaceX closer to its ultimate goal: Making these rockets reusable, and thereby dramatically cutting the cost of spaceflight by 30%. This launch gave it yet another opportunity to prove that it can achieve this.

SpaceX is planning to launch its fifth rocket of the year this Thursday at 5:40 p.m. ET.

The Falcon 9 rocket will be launching out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a communications satellite called that weighs nearly 7,000 lbs. As of Tuesday afternoon, weather conditions look good for the launch.

Once up, the satellite, which was built by aerospace manufacturer Orbital ATK for Thailand’s first satellite operator Thaicom PLC, will provide TV and internet services to Southeast Asia.

SpaceX's track record for launches has been nearly flawless this year, with four successful launches and three successful landings (and retrievals!) of the first stage of the rockets. One of those successes took place on land in December; two more happened in April and May at sea.

SpaceX will once again attempt to land the first stage of the rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic. If it succeeds, it'll be:

The fourth successful retrieval of the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket

The third successful at-sea landing

The second successful landing after launching to the extremely high geostationary orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth’s equator

During SpaceX’s last launch, Elon Musk admitted he wasn't sure if they'd stick the landing, citing the extreme heat and velocity the rocket faced upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

But it did. And although it was a hugely surprising success, the re-landed first stage suffered "maximum damage," meaning it's not going back to space again anytime soon. Instead, SpaceX plans to use the rocket for ground tests.

Perfecting the landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets brings SpaceX closer to its ultimate goal: Making these rockets reusable, and thereby dramatically cutting the cost of spaceflight. This launch will give it yet another opportunity to prove that it can achieve this.

A report in Florida Today states that the weather conditions for the flight are looking to be near-perfect, with US Air Force meteorologists predicting a 90% chance of favorable conditions for launch.

SpaceX is planning to launch its fifth rocket of the year this Thursday at 5:40 p.m. ET.

The Falcon 9 rocket will be launching out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a communications satellite called that weighs nearly 7,000 lbs. As of Tuesday afternoon, weather conditions look good for the launch.

Once up, the satellite, which was built by aerospace manufacturer Orbital ATK for Thailand’s first satellite operator Thaicom PLC, will provide TV and internet services to Southeast Asia.

SpaceX's track record for launches has been nearly flawless this year, with four successful launches and three successful landings (and retrievals!) of the first stage of the rockets. One of those successes took place on land in December; two more happened in April and May at sea.

SpaceX will once again attempt to land the first stage of the rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic. If it succeeds, it'll be:

The fourth successful retrieval of the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket

The third successful at-sea landing

The second successful landing after launching to the extremely high geostationary orbit, more than 22,000 miles above Earth’s equator

During SpaceX’s last launch, Elon Musk admitted he wasn't sure if they'd stick the landing, citing the extreme heat and velocity the rocket faced upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

But it did. And although it was a hugely surprising success, the re-landed first stage suffered "maximum damage," meaning it's not going back to space again anytime soon. Instead, SpaceX plans to use the rocket for ground tests.

Perfecting the landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets brings SpaceX closer to its ultimate goal: Making these rockets reusable, and thereby dramatically cutting the cost of spaceflight. This launch will give it yet another opportunity to prove that it can achieve this.

A report in Florida Today states that the weather conditions for the flight are looking to be near-perfect, with US Air Force meteorologists predicting a 90% chance of favorable conditions for launch.